Orange County public relations specialist Mona Shaw Tweets nearly 24 hours a day for her restaurant clients. Photo by Leonard Ortiz/The Orange County Register

When Mona Shah started her public relations career more than a decade ago, she spent half her time stuffing press releases into envelopes.

"We had a special folding machine," laughs Shah, publicist and founder of Moxxe PR in Laguna Beach. "We were moving at a much slower pace then."

Today, Shah is online nearly round-the-clock using Twitter and Facebook to promote restaurant clients such as Daddy Cakes of Newport Beach and Lucca Café in Irvine.

She's not alone.

With the restaurant industry facing its worst downturn in decades, dozens of independent and chain eateries are turning to Twitter to generate cheap brand buzz. Short messages, aka Tweets, tease diners with instant freebies, discounted dining events and menu makeovers.

"The Internet is a crowd of people where everyone is yelling, and to be heard is a matter of who has got the biggest megaphone," said Shah, who recently spoke to the Orange County Restaurant Association about the power of Twitter.

In June, Twitter had 21 million unique visitors, a 1,928 percent jump from the same month last year, according to Nielsen Ratings. Restaurants are also taking advantage of Facebook, which allows businesses to create "fan" pages.

Both social media sites are revolutionizing the way diners consume information — and chains are scurrying to make themselves heard.

Like El Pollo Loco, Sprinkles uses Twitter to promote new menu items and freebies. The cupcake chain's "whisper" Tweets have become especially viral. About twice a week, Sprinkles will post a code word on Twitter such as "raspberry" or "peanut butter." Customers (typically the first 25 in the door) are instructed to whisper the secret word to get a free cupcake.

Twitter is "very efficient because it provides immediate results. Within a minute of posting, we get people in our store redeeming our promotions," Sprinkles Cupcakes said in a statement.

Elise Wallace of Orange said she looks out for the Sprinkles giveaways even though she's "never in the area to take advantage."

Taco Bell has logged nearly 6,000 fan followers since signing up for Twitter in June. Company spokesman Will Bortz said Twitter is an efficient, speedy way to build hype about the brand.

Still, social media networks can be demanding, and potentially risky ventures if not used wisely, marketing experts say.

As a micro-blogging tool, Twitter's most loyal users have an endless appetite for updates that range from the mundane ("I'm going to work") to insider-only teases ("free tacos today for Jack in the Box fans")

"It's time-consuming to manage pages, and stay on top of it all," said Shah, who acts as ghost writer for her restaurant clients.

Some chains also question if jumping on Twitter is worth the time. Nielsen data shows that more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month.

That's one reason Lake Forest-based Del Taco is gun-shy about getting on the Twitter bandwagon.

Del Taco spokeswoman Barbara Caruso said the Mexican-fast-food chain "communicates directly with customers" via its website, where customers can sign up to receive emails about special promotions, discounts and other Del Taco news.

Once the fast-food chain can determine "ways to best leverage Twitter" for long-term gain, Del Taco could change its mind, she said.

Restaurant marketing expert Randy Lopezsaid it's smart to have a game plan.

"People sign up (to follow restaurants) because they want to be part of a restaurant's inner circle," said Lopez, chief marketing officer at Manhattan Beach-based G&M Plumbing.

If restaurants join Twitter, and remain inactive — meaning, no Tweets for days or weeks — then fans lose interest, he said.

"You have to stick around, and have a conversation," said Lopez. "There has to be a plan."

Baja Fresh is a good example.

In late July, the Cypress-based chain posted a Facebook message promoting a one-day only burrito giveaway. The promotion eventually landed on Twitter and various food blogs dedicated to deals and freebies.

Demand wound up surging beyond the chain's expectations, causing many diners to be turned away. At 2 p.m., on the day of the giveaway, Baja Fresh posted this message on its Facebook site: "We would like to apologize to those who were unable to participate in this promotion. We realize that we underestimated the kind of response we would receive for the Free Burrito Coupon."

Before the day started, the chain planned to giveaway 1,800 free burritos. But the final tally was 50,000. The event was a valuable learning lesson, Baja Fresh President Chuck Rink said.

"We have learned about the power of a relatively new social media," Rink said.

On the upside, the chain gained hundreds of new followers to its social media sites. Now the trick is to keep them engaged.

"We now have a strong foundation of followers on both Twitter and Facebook and look forward to the continuous growth of our online community," Rink said.

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